


The Silver Fox - The Problem

by sagely_sea



Series: The Silver Fox [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fox!Shiro, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post Season 7, Pre-Relationship, semi-sentient Atlas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 12:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16326008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagely_sea/pseuds/sagely_sea
Summary: It's been nearly three months and Shiro still doesn't have his re-emerging fox powers under control. It makes for some awkward situations and means he's often relying on Keith to help. He feels bad about it but Keith reassures him that he always has Shiro's back.





	The Silver Fox - The Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Shiro demanded it be from his POV and we get to see that the pining is very much mutual.

Shiro’s stride stuttered mid-step causing the officer who was walking with him down one of the halls of Atlas to look over at him in concern. 

“Sorry. A sudden call. I’ll just take this and catch up with you,” Shiro said. He hoped that the officer wouldn’t notice that Shiro didn’t have his usual earpiece in or that he was completely faking with playing with the buttons on his Altean arm instead of actually answering a call. 

He didn’t give the officer a chance to say anything before he moved away back down the hall to an empty meeting room they had just strode by. He unlocked it, stepped inside and immediately closed and locked the door while switching on the privacy features of the room. He then fumbled with his belt and button of his pants only just getting them undone in time before his tail popped out behind him. 

Shiro panted and grabbed a hold of the conference table as he tried to calm down his racing heart. That was too close. And after three months of this it wasn’t the first one. At least he had managed to get his pants loosened this time. The couple of times he hadn’t had resulted in horrible pain as his tail was squished and bent awkwardly or destroyed pants. Neither were things he wanted to repeat if he could help it. 

After a few minutes, Shiro straightened and smoothed back his hair and ears and looked around the room. It was one of the smaller meeting rooms and if he stayed here too long, people would wonder what he was doing. As the captain of Atlas, it was hard to stay under the radar and everyone always seemed to know where he was. It was nice to feel useful and lead the crew but right now it wasn’t what he needed. 

What he needed was Keith. He felt he’d been taking advantage of Keith’s never-ending loyalty to him but the truth was, he needed that support. He wouldn’t have been able to handle his fox powers returning to him even half as well without Keith. And right now he needed Keith and his wolf. 

He couldn’t stay here and sneaking down the halls of Atlas to his own chambers was definitely not going to happen when he looked like this. 

Shiro eyed the phone and vid screen but knew he couldn’t use it. The Garrison might not officially screen all calls but Shiro knew that they recorded them all and could at any time listen in. Shiro didn’t need them asking questions and even a vaguely worded call could lead to trouble. 

He looked at his arm and thought he could probably get it to patch into Keith’s comms but there was a high chance that Keith wasn’t wearing them since they weren’t scheduled to do any in Lion training today. He also wasn’t entirely sure that the Garrison hadn’t tapped into those frequencies on a permanent basis and were monitoring those, too. 

So that left two options. Waiting for Keith to find him and hope that he did before this room was needed or someone else came looking for him or try to use Atlas. 

While he trusted Keith’s unwavering sixth sense to know when he was in trouble and lead him this way, he didn’t want to risk it. So that left Atlas. Shiro laid his robotic had on the wall and then rested his forehead against it. Talking with Atlas wasn’t as easy as it was to talk with Black but Shiro could feel a distant connection in the back of his mind. 

It was easier from the main console but he could feel the hum of Atlas’ sentience no matter where he was in the ship. He had asked Allura once if she felt anything and she had said that she could feel that Atlas was more than a ship and suggested that what Shiro shared with Atlas could be similar to the one she had felt with the castle. Though even that connection had apparently paled in comparison to the one she now shared with Blue. 

Shiro thought that Atlas, who had the ability to take on a humanoid form much like the lions, would grow in sentience and power over time much like the lions had. The lions even now were still ever evolving and Shiro knew that Atlas was too. Every day he felt like he and Atlas both learned more about what the ship could do. 

And right now he wanted to see if Atlas could contact Keith without letting anyone else on the ship know. 

“Atlas, I need you,” Shiro said. He let his eyes close and focused on reaching out to Atlas until he felt the warmth of an extra presence inside of him. After spending so much energy connecting with Black and then existing inside of her, Shiro knew that it was Atlas acknowledging his call. 

“Find Keith. Tell him I need him. Show him where I am,” Shiro said. He hoped his instructions were clear and simple enough. As he said the words, he pictured Keith and the room he was in and maintained that focus, hoping that Atlas could understand the images even if the words evaded him. 

He was still running the images through his head and so focused on that that he startled when he felt a lick to his human hand that was hanging down at his side. 

Shiro jerked back and then looked down to see Kosmo looking up at him and acting innocent and not like he just scared him.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked. “And can you call off Atlas. I’m here. He can calm down.” 

“Thanks, Atlas. You can stop now,” Shiro said and felt Atlas’ presence withdraw back to the usual buzz in the back of his mind. “Better?” 

“Yes. Is it always like that with you?” 

“Like what?” Shiro was curious to know how Atlas felt like to others. 

“It was this really loud booming sound and pressure…” Keith rubbed the back of his head. “It was intense.” 

Shiro could understand a bit of what Keith was saying. Atlas wasn’t only big physically. His presence was just as monstrous but it didn’t weigh down on Shiro’s mind as much as it did Keith’s. “A bit. And sorry to worry you.” 

“It’s fine, Shiro. I’m glad you know you can call on me.” 

“I know. But I shouldn’t have to. This should be under control already.” 

“You’ve been under a lot of pressure and we don’t know everything that might have been done to your body. You shouldn’t feel guilty about this,” Keith said. 

“It’s still weird to think this wasn’t the body I was born with,” Shiro admitted. He usually just tried not to think about it but there always seemed to be something that would remind him. The white hair for one, though it was also scars or even this one freckle he swears he didn’t have before. 

“Well it’s your body now. And you still have everything that made you you.” Keith gestured to him and then more specifically the tail and ears. 

Right now Shiro wasn’t feeling that excited about having them back since they’d been plaguing him for nearly three months but he could also admit that he was thankful that despite everything he’d been through, he still possessed the ability of his ancestors. 

“You know… maybe you should just tell everyone about it. We’ve been associating with friendly aliens for months now and the world seems to be taking it pretty well. I don’t think they could object to you being… different.”

Shiro wondered what word Keith had wanted to put there and then decided he was probably better off not knowing. He did not need to hear Keith calling him cute or fluffy. He already knew that Keith liked to touch his tail as often as he could get away with. Not that Shiro was really bothered by that even if he did protest from time to time. 

“I’m a commander of the most important military ship that the Earth has. I need to project an air of authority and wisdom. Looking like a fox boy isn’t going to help that.” He already met some resistance from older officers who seemed to have already forgotten the devastation under Galra rule just to jockey amongst themselves for better positions and ranks. It was ridiculous. 

Really, if anyone else could handle the Atlas and lead the crew in the way they needed against the fight against the empire then Shiro would be more than happy to shift responsibility over to them. He was proud of his time as the leader of Voltron and he was immensely relieved and honoured to be trusted with not only being an officer of the Garrison but the one commanding Atlas. But it was a lot. He’d seen and been through a lot and despite the white hair, he was still in his twenties. 

“Half the Garrison would think you’re just kidding them. You know they call you a silver fox, right?” Keith asked. 

“They what?” Shiro asked blinking back at Keith in surprise. He’d overheard plenty of gossip about Keith since their return but he hadn’t heard anyone call him that. 

“Silver fox. It’s apparently what they call good-looking men with white hair. The nickname they picked this time is really accurate,” Keith said. And then gave Shiro a once over that made Shiro’s heart beat a bit faster. 

Did Keith think it was accurate because he was good looking or only because of the fox ears currently twitching about on his head? He could feel heat rising to his face as he thought about Keith thinking about him in that way and quickly decided turn around was only fair. 

“I’m not the only one with a nickname you know. They gossip about you.” 

“They always have. I’m not surprised. As long as they don’t question orders when I give them, I don’t care what they say.” 

Shiro wasn’t surprised that Keith automatically assumed that the gossip was antagonistic. His transition to life in the Garrison hadn’t been a smooth one. It certainly wasn’t for lack of talent. Keith was just going through an awkward stage and had trouble getting along with his peers. Being forced to be a part of a team and then lead Voltron was probably one of the best things that could have happened to Keith. Finding his mother and a loyal space wolf likely didn’t hurt either. 

“I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting people to follow you. From the sounds of it, you’ll have a harder time getting them to stop.” Shiro said. He then laughed at Keith’s confused face, his tail waving behind him. 

“What? Why? You’re the captain of the Atlas. Half the time I talk to someone it’s to tell them how to do something better.” 

It was cute how confused Keith was about people looking up to him. He wasn’t a loner kid with an attitude problem anymore and it was going to take Keith more than a few months on Earth to realize that’s not how people saw him anymore. 

“You’ve grown into a capable leader, Keith. Everyone here can see that. Even those that doubted your place at the Garrison before all of this have to admit they were wrong. You’re still one of the best pilots the Garrison has ever had and you want those under you to do well.” 

Keith listened and finally gave a small nod before at Shiro’s words. Shiro would repeat them as often as Keith needed to hear them for him to have as much confidence in himself walking the halls of the Garrison as he did in the cockpit of the Black Lion. 

“One of the best huh? Are you counting yourself as the best?” Keith asked, a small smile tugging on his lips. 

“My records still remain unbroken.” 

“Only because I left before I had a chance to break them. You know I can outfly you any day of the week,” Keith said. 

They gave each other a determined challenging look for a moment before they both chuckled. 

“Maybe. But I won’t admit defeat until we have a race. Do you think the MFE pilots would whine too much if we took their jets out for a test spin?” Shiro asked. 

“Well, it’d be almost criminal to expect us to work with them without fully knowing how the ships maneuver,” Keith said.

Shiro was impressed at his deadpan delivery but then Keith was always good at saying things in a dry tone that often made people miss if he was joking or not.

“I’ll check their schedules. See when the jets might be free.” It would be breaking all sorts of rules and regulations but if Shiro submitted some paperwork right beforehand and they timed it right, he was sure they could either get away with it or at most just get frowned at a lot by the MFE pilots and Iverson. It wasn’t like they could kick him or Keith out. 

“And people think you’re the golden boy,” Keith said with a shake of his head. 

Shiro worked hard at perfecting his golden boy reputation when at the Garrison. He always scored well on tests, aced his flight training, and made sure to look the part of a proper Garrison cadet and later an officer. If the other students and officers didn’t look beyond that, it wasn’t his fault. Sometimes you had to bend some rules and have fun to better focus on work and studies the next day. 

“Are you going to tell them otherwise?” Shiro asked. 

“No. At least not before you get me in the cockpit of one of those jets,” Keith said. 

“Good. Now, can you get me to my room?” Shiro asked. He realized that they had gotten off topic and he was worried that the room might be booked for the upcoming hour. He also had a bunch of work he had to do but hopefully, he could do most of it from his room. Everyone was always telling him he needed to take it easier so in a way, being forced to work from his room a couple times a week wasn’t such a bad thing. But it was still annoying. 

“Of course. Do you need to go to your office first?” Keith asked. He knelt down to pet Kosmo who wagged his tail and leaned into the touch. Shiro tried not to think how he did much the same thing when Keith talked him into letting him pet his ears. 

“I have most of what I need in my room. But I might send you to pick up some other things if you have time.” 

“Yeah. I have the time. Actually, I’ve been reading up on some files. I can do that from your room and keep you company.” 

“You won’t be missed?” Shiro asked. The days where they could keep to their own schedules and do what they wanted without worry in the castle were long gone. It seemed that the Garrison wanted to keep track of them every hour of the day and had most of those hours planned out for them. Even Voltron couldn’t escape that completely. 

“It’s not like anyone thinks it odd if I spend time with you doing my work instead of in my office.” Keith made a face as if he still couldn’t believe that he had an office and that he found the whole thing unpleasant. Life back on Earth was certainly an adjustment. Especially for someone who wasn’t used to so many people wanting his attention anymore. Two years on a space whale and working secretive Blade assignments would do that to someone. 

“Alright. Just make sure they know where to find you. We don’t need them sending out an alert again.” It had sort of been funny afterwards but being jarred awake from an unexpected nap they both took on their datapads to a blaring alert paging Keith wasn’t the best way to wake up. And explaining why they both weren’t answering their comms was embarrassing. Especially since everyone just kept exchanging looks and seeming unable to believe them when they said they just nodded off doing work. 

And if people were already opening assuming they were more than friends, then they really were overdue for that talk. Clearly, he wasn’t doing as good of a job at hiding his appreciation for Keith’s muscular and filled out body as he thought. 

“I’ll do that when I go and get the things we need. But you’re sure you want to keep hiding this? If it keeps going on, people are going to start asking questions.” 

Keith had a point but Shiro was still optimistic he could get it under control and it could remain a secret. Even if the Garrison wouldn’t turn him into a test subject, he really did not need anymore gossip and fox nicknames right now. “I’m sure.” 

“Okay. Let’s do this then.” Keith took Shiro’s hand and kept the other on Kosmo who seemed to just know where to take them.

Shiro could never tell just how much Kosmo could understand but he was sure it was more than most people assumed. 

“Thanks, boy,” Shiro said and knelt down to give Kosmo a pat. He then promptly fell on his butt in surprise when Kosmo turned and licked his ear. “Hey! None of that. I don’t need grooming,” Shiro said trying to push the determined space wolf away. 

Keith was no help. He just stood there and laughed as he watched. Thankfully after a few more protests and thwarted attempts to groom his hair and ears, Kosmo gave up and moved back to Keith.

“Go get what we need,” Shiro said as he stood. He tried to fix his uniform and hair and act like he wasn’t just harassed by Kosmo but the mischievous glint in Keith’s eyes was letting Shiro know that he was failing miserably to play it cool. 

“Fine. We’ll be back soon.” With that, Keith and his wolf disappeared.

A part of him missed the time when Keith had looked up to him and all but idolized him and didn’t see any of his faults. But he mostly just appreciated how much Keith had grown into his own person and how the two of them were able to stand side by side as equals. Shiro had plenty of people relying on him to lead them, teach them, and be a role model to them. It was nice to have someone at his side and always ready to cover his back. 

Even when that back included a large fox tail.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for all of the kudos to the first part. I'm glad my first foray into Voltron writing was enjoyed. 
> 
> And yes, it's still an excuse to imagine Shiro with cute fox ears and a big fluffy tail. I still don't know how plot and pining got in the mix. 
> 
> (Also, sorry for any mistakes, I was excited to share part two and didn't edit as strictly as I could have.)


End file.
